New Teva CEO dumps cancer drug pact with Proteologics

The new CEO at Teva Pharmaceutical ($TEVA) is jettisoning a long-standing cancer drug development pact with Israel's Proteologics. Globes is reporting that Teva is handing back the molecules identified over the 7 years the two companies have collaborated together.

Proteologics has been at work developing inhibitors of E3 ubiquitin ligases, enzymes that play a key biologic function regulating protein breakdown, a pathway the biotech believes can be followed to find new anti-cancer drugs as well as therapies for metabolic disease and CNS disorders.

The biotech also has a pact with GlaxoSmithKline ($GSK), but Teva is taking a new strategic direction under the guidance of newly-named CEO Jeremy Levin. Levin has vowed to beef up its R&D work with an eye to reshaping the big generics player into a fully diversified Big Pharma player. But in the process he's also been undertaking a thorough review of all of its programs in the pipeline.

"In view of Teva's strategic change, we concluded with its management to terminate our collaboration in these projects," said Proteologics CEO Joshua Levine, according to the Globes article. "We believe that we can use our know-how to continue development of these products for the relevant indications, and that we will find new partners to continue the development of promising molecules by signing agreements with leading international pharmaceutical companies. We believe that any agreement that we sign for the further development of the molecules will create value for the company's shareholders."